Through New Eyes
by bigredbear
Summary: Heero was never who people thought he was. One year after the war, Trowa finds him and uncovers a startling secret. What is it? Tee Hee. Read and find out. UPDATED. Chapters 1-2 re-edited.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – I don't own the thing. **

**Also I redid the chapter since it had some big grammatical boo-boos and I will also finally be added some new chapters. Thank you for all the reviews and I hope to make the story as enjoyable as I can. **

Dr. J was gone. Just like that. He couldn't say that he was particularly saddened by the news of his teacher's death, but he was admittedly a tad confused as to what to do next. There wasn't a home to return to and no one to happily reunite with even if there had been one. True, there were people who verbalized some concern about his well being but, in reality, they really didn't know anything about who he truly was. He was a lie. A perpetrator. A charlatan. Of the few details of his life others knew about, every bit of it was a artfully constructed ruse.

It had been a long year since the war had ended and Heero had been living, if that was even the right word for what he did every day, on the L1 colony ever since. None of the other pilots knew where he was and he liked it like that. Things were, after all, much simpler that way. Now and then, he would inadvertently catch glimpses of Quatre or Relena on television, but he certainly never went out of his way to keep tabs on them.

Everything had changed so much since one year ago, especially for Heero. Sometimes, during the war, he'd found himself secretly dreading the prospect of living in peace. Granted, he wanted the senseless killing to cease but, in the end, he had to wonder- what was there besides fighting? He once knew the answer to that question, but sadly during his time with J he'd forgotten. But, slowly, he had begun to find a purpose again.

Heero knew he had some options and could easily get a good job as a Preventer or something along those lines, but he preferred to live the simple life for a while and, surprisingly, he found he despised and loved it at the same time. The humble and mundane offerings of life was boring to say the least, but there was a simplistic peace in not having to look over his shoulder every moment of his life. For the time being, he managed to keep things relatively exciting by changing jobs every month or so.

The current month found him working at a small diner owned by an old woman that everyone called Ms. Etta and apparently she thought he was adorable and hired him on the spot. She even bothered to treat him like he was one of her own children for the most part. He had to admit that he liked Ms. Etha and could tolerate the people he met there. It turned out that the customers who frequented Ms. Etha's diner thought his "attitude" was cute, and at times some took it as a challenge, so he managed to fit right in. Oddly, Heero had begun to consider staying at the diner for a bit longer than he usually did instead of moving along after his month long stay, which had, in fact, ended a few days prior.

It was a Saturday night, during one of Heero's shifts, that he was just about ready to lock up and inform Ms. Etta of his plans to stay, when a young man entered the diner. Normally, Ms. Etha would turn the late stragglers away, but Heero knew she wouldn't chase this one out.

The young man was soaked. Apparently he wasn't from L1 seeing as he wasn't familiar with the colony's weather patterns. He was tall, and thin with his face hidden slightly as he turned to look outside one last time. Ms. Etha quickly waddled over to the young man's table and handed him a menu with a slight wink and Heero couldn't help but notice the wide smile that had spread across the old woman's face as she walked back over the counter where Heero was refilling ketchup bottles. "I'll leave this one to you Little Miss Sunshine." Ms. Etha said with her usual devious tone, the one she used whenever a reasonably attractive young man sauntered into the diner.

Heero knew what the old woman was up to. She had, after all, been trying to set him up on dates from the first week he'd started flipping pancakes. "A fine one like you shouldn't be lonely" she'd always say. True Heero was perhaps alone but that didn't mean he wanted to be set up with anyone or was in fact lonely.

With an inward sigh he walked over to the table ready to take the young man's order but upon closer inspection of the patron he had to fight the urge to have his mouth hang open and then walk away. But, alas, he would never run away from a challenge and continued walking to the young man's table. With a deep breath he completely composed himself.

"Can I take your order Trowa?"

**TBC**

**Author's Note:** Hey, I know it's real boring so far, but I needed an opener.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hey, thanks so much for the reviews everyone. I shall continue. I really hope you like it. I also redid this chapter to make it flow better. **

For months Trowa had been following leads on a particularly nasty terrorist named Merin Inyata. Three months after the war ended, he began working as a freelance agent for the Preventers and a month after that he began tracking down the slippery monster. The guy was good. He had to give him that. In the time since Trowa had started the case, he had only gotten remotely close to catching the guy once, but in the end he still managed to slip away.

A new lead from headquarters had led him to the rundown L1 colony and despite only being in town for a few days things were already starting to look good. He was scheduled to meet up with an informant who had been working the case much longer than he had and who had the misfortune on being an undercover agent who was in deep. She needed Trowa to do the dirty work, the kind she couldn't do without drawing suspicion to herself and he'd gladly accepted if it meant capturing that snake Inyata.

The two had scheduled to meet at 22:00 sharp in front of some old diner. However, that was before the rain came down and Trowa decided it best to go inside the small diner and wait for her there. After all, she must be a smart girl or at least smart enough to look inside the diner for him when she didn't find him in the downpour.

The diner was obviously near its closing timr, but he hoped his informant would arrive before then. An old woman came up and handed him a menu and he thought for a moment. True, he didn't know what the young lady he was supposed to meet looked like, but he was sure she was young, or at least younger than the waitress had been.

Trowa nodded politely and the old woman quickly walked off. He didn't really notice if anyone else was in the diner or not, but a much younger woman soon walked up to him. She was short and looked to be about his age or so and she also looked really thin but very pretty at the same time. Nothing about her screamed military, but she did look a tad pissed, or tired, or maybe bored. He knew better than to judge a book by its cover but he couldn't see her as being a soldier.

"Can I take your order, Trowa?"

She knew his name. Trowa kicked himself inwardly for being so naïve for underestimating this girl. She was obviously the agent he was supposed to be meeting.

"I got caught in the rain for nothing" he thought for a moment.

She just looked at him, an expressionless look on her face that he had to admit was a bit unnerving.

"We're can we talk?" was all he said.

She looked at him again and for a moment he wondered if he had gotten the wrong girl, but he knew he hadn't. Before she could respond, both of them noticed something was amiss. Within an instant a stream of bullets ran through the small diner and without a word the young woman quickly pulled the older woman, who had served him earlier, to the ground, and Trowa was behind the counter with his gun drawn.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone. I'm sorry for not updating in a very long time. I've been swamped with work lately. If anyone still cares, I will try to update more often from now on so please bear with me. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this story, so please tell me what you think.

Chapter 3

With one swift movement, Heero had his gun out and readily searching for a target. He was glad for the small handgun he still kept strapped close to his body, camouflaged by the bulky waitress uniform he donned every day for the last three months. It was much too easy to slip back into soldier mode, always ready to take down the enemy. Apparently, old habits die hard. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, it unnerved him slightly. As hard as he had tried to abandon his old ways, his first instinct was to garner a weapon and defeat the enemy at all cost. Everyday, for the past year, he had tried to throw away his gun, the one thing that kept him linked to his past, but he could not.

It was easy for him to get rid of the ridiculous disguise he wore for over a year, perpetrating a boy named Heero Yuy. He wasn't sure whether he should have been proud of himself or offended that no one ever realized the great Heero Yuy, was really a battered girl from the slumps of L1. When Dr. J first told her about his great plan she thought the old man had finally lost it- or the rest of it, as it was.

"…..Yes, you WILL perform this mission as a man. It is the best and only option. No one will take a boney wench like you seriously. I will not have my mission jeopardized by a silly little girl and her insecurities. Believe me; this is for your own good and protection. A girl will only bring the wrong kind of attention to herself and that would not be good for either of us." J said it; no sugarcoating as usual. Although it pissed her off to no end, deep down she knew it was true. Regardless of her opinion, she would have to dress up in the ridiculous attire, have a voice chip implanted into her throat, and have her hair cut off. There was no point in protesting and being punished for doing so later.

The first time she looked into the mirror, as Heero Yuy, she felt like a complete ass. She wasn't sure if she was ready for war or a leisurely bike ride on a warm summer's day, in her tight black shorts and over sized jungle green tank top. When J had told her she was toughing it out in drag, she immediately envisioned Rambo- not Richard Simmons goes commando. Dr. J was a cruel, insane maniac. He had been ever since his "accident" 5 years prior. He was once a handsome doctor with sensible ideals, morals and ethical standards. That was the man that had lured her in to help him. However, it seemed that with his physical metamorphosis came the birth of a madman, and for years he had taken his prized "pupil" along for the ride.

Dr. J was gone now. Heero couldn't blame the lunatic for his problems anymore. He was the one who could not let go of his past. He was the one who was holding the gun and had it trained on a well hidden, would be assassin hiding in the shadows of a nearby building.

Heero did take some small satisfaction in knowing that she had paused. A year ago the man would have already been dead, but this time Heero had hesitated. She actually took the time to think about her actions before she took the man out. She had felt guilty before for her actions, almost every night, but this time was different. One year ago, the dead man would have been a casualty of war; tonight he was a human being that had died by her hand.

"Good job. He must have tracked us down. It probably was one of His men. I took out another one over on the west side." Heero barely heard Trowa address her over the rain. "We should get out of here." Heero gave a curt nod and helped Ms. Etha to her feet.

Surprisingly the older woman was only slightly shaken. She looked more sad than anything. "Damn hoodlums. They're trying to muscle me out again. I'm sorry about this young man, and thank you so much for helping me and my girl over here." True, the neo mafia had been trying to establish a hold on the small neighborhood but Ms. Etha was a stubborn old woman-not one to let anyone push her out of her home.

Heero was glad the old women hadn't seen or chose to ignore the gun and subsequent shot she had let out. She didn't want the old women to know about her past.

"So, it appears it wasn't Inyata." He paused a brief moment. "I'm Trowa; your liason. You are Jennifer I presume." Trowa asked, back straight not looking her in the eye. Was he really that blind? There was not much difference between her male counterpart, Heero Yuy, and herself. She was still short, with brown hair, albeit it reached past her shoulders now, blue eyes, and toned body despite some added curves in the passing year. She was never a particularly masculine looking boy to begin with so it would not have been hard to mistake her for a girl regardless of her weak disguise. She was basically Heero Yuy with longer hair and a bigger chest.

"Trowa…..," you idiot. You buffoon. You dingbat. Like hell if he would point out the obvious to Trowa. Heero wanted to yell at him to open his eyes and see the undeniable truth, but was cut off by a set of approaching footsteps.

"Agent Trowa Barton? I think we have a mix-up here. I'm Agent Jennifer Caldwell, your liason…"

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Trowa was just sitting there, reading the one book that she had in the living room of her efficiency apartment. He didn't say anything. His long legs were crossed in front of him as he sat comfortably on Heero's ratty couch. She had all but expected Trowa to find her although she had not expected him to be sitting so casually in her run down apartment.

Their battle of silent wills lasted for a few minutes until Trowa finally spoke. "Tonight was rather unexpected." Heero didn't really know what to say to that. Tonight was the first time that the two of them had seen each other in quite some time and they had not kept in touch. The two had always had some kind of silent connection but silence was going to do neither of them any good with the current situation.

"So what have you been up to?" Trowa's casual attempt at conversation seemed both out of place for him and the situation. It was clear that for perhaps the first time both individuals found silence uncomfortable.

"I've been here."

"I see that."

With two sentences their conversation hit a road block. Both ex Gundam Pilots were relieved, whether they would admit it or not, when Trowa's phone beeped.

"Yes. Yes. Somewhat…."

Heero could not clearly make out what the other person on the line was saying but he could tell that they were loud. Very loud. One person popped into Heero's mind immediately.

"When will you be arriving?... Understood." Trowa immediately hung up his phone and rose to his feet. Book in hand he headed for the door. "You already saw that there have been some random attacks in this area. We suspect it's more serious than just petty gang violence. We have some viable reports of a rebellion brewing?" Heero understood what Trowa was asking of her in his own special kind of way. After a few moments of contemplation she responded with a "hn" and headed to her room, quickly emerging in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket. She had to admit her little stick up the ass responses didn't have the same effect as it did with the gruff voice chip.

Trowa was leaning patiently on a wall. "Does anyone else know?"

It was obvious what Trowa was referring to. Heero's silence was enough to tell Trowa what he needed to know. She had already figured that at least one more of her fellow pilots would be coming to the colony and it was clear that the way she currently looked would be a bit of a shock for them all. She had not really crafted a plan of action to tackle the whole 'hey I'm a girl guys' issue. It was never in her plans to survive the war to begin with so her only plan to keep her true identity a secret had not really panned out.

"What do you prefer to be called?"

"Helen." Heero never saw the need to be particularly creative. She had gone by Heera after the war but Ms. Etha often expressed her disdain for the title and started calling her Helen. She never knew why but figured it was as good a name as any so it stuck- at least in the diner.

"Helen." Trowa nodded and they were out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I know it's been a looooooooooong time since I updated but I've been down due to …well life ….but I'm back and thank you so much for the reviews. I'm going to try and update regularly from now on. **

The private shuttle station was quiet, as it should be, and as the trio waited patiently for the remaining Preventers to arrive Helen couldn't help but notice the disapproving glares of disgust Caldwell kept shooting her way.

"I hadn't realized we were taking on strays for this mission Barton" she said as she lit a brown cigarette and tossed the metal lighter back into her coat's pocket. "I usually like to be informed ahead of time when we decide to liaise with the…._**natives**_. They tend to tricky sometimes." Caldwell's comment was directed towards Trowa but she made an effort to speak loud enough that Helen couldn't help but hear. "I really like to keep things professional."

Helen didn't say anything, choosing only to flash the arrogant Blonde a fierce glare that successfully showed she would stand her ground. Trowa, on the other hand, didn't seem to heed the haughty woman's words and chose to simply turn and face Helen as the doors of the bleak shuttle slowly opened.

"Well it seems like the real cavalry has arrived so we can get some work done. Hopefully they aren't as competent as what I've seen of the Preventer's thus far." Caldwell flashed an odd and reproachful grin at the others that quickly returned to her previous grimace. Helen had to admit, this woman was quickly etching herself onto her short list of people she really wasn't fond of.

As Trowa had promised, two men dressed in civilian clothing excited the large shuttle with single duffle bags slung over their shoulders and it was immediately apparent who the familiar faces were.

"Maxwell. Chang." Trowa said as he gave then both a curt salute. "Glad to see you made it in alright."

Both men returned the gesture but immediately turned their attention to Helen and Caldwell.

"Well you know a little ole shuttle is nothing we can't handle but please don't be rude. Who do we have the pleasure of accompanying on this mission of ours?" Duo flashed both ladies a toothy grin but Helen had to fight the urge to squirm as Duo steadied his sights on her.

'Did he know?' she wondered. She could never tell with Duo. With that dumb grin of his he could have very well unraveled the truth already or he could have as easily simply been undressing her with his eyes in some sordid fantasy of his- or both at the same time as it was Duo Maxwell after all. Helen had unfortunately been privy to an array of downright squalid tales during her time as Duo's accomplice during the wars and it was unsettling to imagine him entangling her in once of his….thoughts.

Thankfully, Trowa finally broke the silence as he turned around and motioned at the blonde woman first. "This is agent Jennifer Caldwell. You should be familiar with her already." Both men gave the standard military greeting, seemingly already familiar with her stats, but it was obvious they both had a greater interest in the shorter brunette.

"And this is" Trowa paused for a moment as he considered what exactly he should say. "This is Helen. She is a first class soldier and will be assisting us for the time being. Any questions you might have for her can be answered at a later time."

Caldwell gave a slight snicker but Duo didn't seem to notice at all as he offered an exaggerated salute.

"Helen huh? One name. Mysterious. I like that. Duo Maxwell at your service and I look forward to working with you in the future." Helen didn't give him any kind of response but instead turned her attention back to Wufei who hadn't said much of anything since he'd arrived.

"Helen huh? Well I guess we'll see what you're made of." His eyes met Helen's and although she didn't show it something in his cold stare unnerved her.

The car ride over to the barracks where Trowa and the others were stationed was silent save for a few ramblings here and there from Duo and once they'd pulled up to the out-of-the-way building nothing much had changed. Helen decided to fall behind the others purposely walking slowly to avoid the unwanted attention and delay the inevitable conversation later on in the evening.

"Hey Trowa" she barely made out as Duo made a lame attempt to be discreet. "Who's this firecracker little hottie? Is she off-limits Preventer or what 'cause I need to know if I need to quit my job."

"Don't worry I'm not Preventer but you wouldn't have had to worry about that either way." Helen took a moment and mentally scolded herself for her fast mouth. Apparently, working as a waitress had sassed her up a bit, but it did successfully shock the idiot into silence at her near super human hearing as she made her way past the two men and towards the bunker.

Inside was sparse, and as Caldwell and the others slowly settled in Helen stayed seated silently on the sole sofa in the front room all the while ignoring the stone hard cushions and musty smell of the underused building. It would still be a few minutes before Trowa had told everyone to meet in the conference room for a briefing but Helen quickly sensed Wufei leaning casually in the corner of the room, his eyes closed and arms folded in front of him.

"Helen huh?" Wufei spoke casually letting the sentence linger in the air for a moment. "I wouldn't have taken you for a Helen but I guess I never did understand you Yuy."

TBC


End file.
